More than 600,000 people in Louisiana are hoping to discover some missing money from the state's unclaimed property program.State treasury officials hosted Unclaimed Property Awareness Day on Saturday at Lakeside Mall. Thousands from the New Orleans area showed up to get help searching through the database.Sheila Rolland said she waited in line for a little over an hour."I got here at 9:40 a.m., and now it's 11 and I'm finished. It only took five minutes for them to check my ID and fill out one-page of paperwork, and now I'm walking away with $67.72," Rolland said. "I only had $3 in my pocket this morning. I have homeowners insurance and it's due next month so I'm just gonna add that to the money I'm trying to save."Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy said the program has been around since 1972 and has given back more than $400 million to residents across the state.Link: Search for unclaimed property here"It's really just lost money," Kennedy said. "These are old bank accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, utility deposits, apartment deposits -- believe it or not, we get a lot of un-cashed payroll checks. People leave a business and don't know they have another check coming, or they don’t leave a forwarding address. We get tens and thousands of dollars in un-cashed payroll checks every day."Kennedy said more than $700 million is up for grabs this year."This money is owed to over 600,000 Louisianians. And we get it in every day. Now there are only 4.5 million people in our state. 600,000 of them have money here. You can do the math -- the odds we have your money are a whole lot better than your odds of winning the lottery," Kennedy said.Kennedy said more than $6,000 was returned during the first 30 minutes of the event. He said a few people might find missing money in the thousands.Linda Falgout was one of those people."I am so very emotional. Very emotional. I thought I was coming for about $150 and I got a lot lot more than that. I'm walking away with a little over $5,000," Falgout said.With over $5,000 in extra money she didn't even realize was hers, Falgout said she's taking her grandchildren to Disney."I'd like to take my family on vacation that they're overdue for," Falgout said.The final total for Saturday was $412,291.67, with one of the last people in line claiming over $12,000.For those who missed the unclaimed property event Saturday, Treasurer Kennedy encourages Louisiana residents to search for missing money online here.Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here.Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news right in your inbox. Click here to sign up!

METAIRIE, La. —

More than 600,000 people in Louisiana are hoping to discover some missing money from the state's unclaimed property program.

State treasury officials hosted Unclaimed Property Awareness Day on Saturday at Lakeside Mall. Thousands from the New Orleans area showed up to get help searching through the database.

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Sheila Rolland said she waited in line for a little over an hour.

"I got here at 9:40 a.m., and now it's 11 and I'm finished. It only took five minutes for them to check my ID and fill out one-page of paperwork, and now I'm walking away with $67.72," Rolland said. "I only had $3 in my pocket this morning. I have homeowners insurance and it's due next month so I'm just gonna add that to the money I'm trying to save."

Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy said the program has been around since 1972 and has given back more than $400 million to residents across the state.

"It's really just lost money," Kennedy said. "These are old bank accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, utility deposits, apartment deposits -- believe it or not, we get a lot of un-cashed payroll checks. People leave a business and don't know they have another check coming, or they don’t leave a forwarding address. We get tens and thousands of dollars in un-cashed payroll checks every day."

Kennedy said more than $700 million is up for grabs this year.

"This money is owed to over 600,000 Louisianians. And we get it in every day. Now there are only 4.5 million people in our state. 600,000 of them have money here. You can do the math -- the odds we have your money are a whole lot better than your odds of winning the lottery," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said more than $6,000 was returned during the first 30 minutes of the event. He said a few people might find missing money in the thousands.

Linda Falgout was one of those people.

"I am so very emotional. Very emotional. I thought I was coming for about $150 and I got a lot lot more than that. I'm walking away with a little over $5,000," Falgout said.

With over $5,000 in extra money she didn't even realize was hers, Falgout said she's taking her grandchildren to Disney.

"I'd like to take my family on vacation that they're overdue for," Falgout said.

The final total for Saturday was $412,291.67, with one of the last people in line claiming over $12,000.